Bishop A. Blake
The Calvary Church of God in Christ (COGIC) began in the late 40’s when the first wave of immigrants from the Caribbean arrived in search of a new life in England. Having failed to integrate in the established churches, they decided to start their own church. Soon all over the country, small groups of Christians were gathering to pray and worship together. Such were the humble beginnings of COGIC, started in the home of the McLachlan family with a few friends in the late 40’s. They established themselves as a church when they rented a hall in Sussex Road, Brixton in the same period.
The growth of this church was phenomenal. In 1952 Bishop Charles Harrison Mason, founder of the COGIC church in the USA, visited the World Pentecostal Conference in London. It was here that an open channel was extended to our Church that led to our affiliation to the Church of God in Christ International in 1957. Later that year, Revd. Oswald McLachlan was appointed the first Jurisdictional Bishop of the Calvary Church of God in Christ in the United Kingdom.
In 1963, Bishop McLachlan decided to return to the Caribbean and passed the leadership of the Church to Bishop Robert Clifford Bell, who was then appointed Jurisdictional Prelate. Bishop Bell served the Church from 1963 until his death in 1998. In 1998, the Revd. Alvin Blake succeeded Bishop Bell as Jurisdictional Prelate and continues to serve to the present time.
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